Another Set of Hands
by HeCallsMeHisChild
Summary: In this sequel to Another Set of Eyes, Zim, Gaz, and Dib are intergalactic refugees, on the run from bounty hunters. Zim begins to learn the true meaning of family while Dib comes to accept his alien roots... absolutely no ZADR.
1. Hunted

Almighty Tallest Purple stood next to Almighty Tallest Red on the bridge of the Massive. Below them, some twenty creatures of various species had gathered. Each had been thoroughly scanned for weapons, so the Tallests were not concerned with their safety.

Red cleared his throat, commanding the attention of every being within earshot.

"I'm not going to waste time with a lengthy laser introduction, although I would dearly love to. Purple and myself have called you here because there is a very dangerous defective on the loose. His name is Zim, and he has with him two hybrids. A hyuman mistakenly mated with an Irken and produced these horrible offspring, and to keep the purity of the Irken race they must be exterminated according to Irken law."

"Yeah!" Purple interjected. "But if you're gonna get any reward, you gotta bring them back alive, and in one piece! We gotta deliver the remains to some creature on Earth. But the reward is monies! Lots and lots of monies, so bring them in, and we'll see what we can do. Alright?"

Murmured agreements followed this statement.

Red grinned. "Excellent! On the way to your ships, you will each be handed a folder containing the profiles and bios of the three renegades. Be very careful! They're dangerous, very very dangerous!"

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"Don't be such a whiner, Dib. Honestly!" Gaz rolled her eyes as she experimented with her new set of legs. "It doesn't hurt a bit."

Dib glared at her from behind the couch. "That's what _you_ say." He glanced fearfully above him where Zim stood, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Come, smeet. We don't have all day!" Zim hefted the PAK he held. "Zim cannot be watching you every second, and you're more defenseless than an earth-slug without this!"

Reluctantly, Dib edged out from behind the couch and presented his back to Zim, who pressed the PAK to his back. Dib felt wires extend from it, searching for an opening. When none was found, they plunged through the skin and wove a path up his spine, fusing with the base of his brain. At first he felt nothing. Then the pain tore through his back and head. Shrieking, he fell back to the couch, clutching his head.

"Whiner." Gaz snorted.

Zim glanced at her, amused. Within an hour of receiving her PAK, Gaz had mastered the spiderlegs, force-field shield, and lasers. But that was no surprise, it was a gigantic video-game to her. The Dib however—Zim sighed as he turned to face the groaning boy. _He will need training. Much training._


	2. For Sale

**Note:** I am in a FOUL mood so I will WRITE! Good Irk I sound like Zim… Maybe I should go hit something to feel better… no, I like my room too much to destroy it… maybe I'll scream… no the neighbors would raise cain… Grrrrrr, I'll take out frustration on my characters. They'll have to suffer the brunt of my frustration with geometry.

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_Easy, easy, one leg forward, put some weight on it, pick up the other one and move it forward a few inches. So far so good, keep going, keep—WHOAH!_ With a yelp, Dib crashed to the floor in a tangled heap of arms and spiderlegs. Frustrated, he stood and brushed himself off. With a growl, Zim leaped forward and kicked his legs out from under him, sending him back to the floor.

Dib glared. "What was that for?"

"You know what that was for, Dib-stink! Did Zim not specifically say you cannot use your hyuman legs until you learn to utilize the spiderlegs!"

"Then how am I gonna get around? It's not like I was born with these things, and I'm older! It's gonna take time, I have to use my legs to get around!"

"No! You either learn to use your spiderlegs or you don't walk at all." Zim crossed his arms and leaned against the hull of the ship. "Try again. Think of those filthy cow-monsters or horse-creatures, they have four legs. Imagine their movements and use that as a guide."

Cursing Zim under his breath, Dib closed his eyes and brought thoughts of cows to mind. Stumpy cows. Stupid cows. Cows that plodded on and on and on… Opening his eyes, he glanced down and realized he had taken three steps on his spiderlegs. "Hey, I did it! I—AUGH!" A black-gloved hand snatched his collar and held him in mid-air before he hit the ground.

"Where do you hyumans buy patience?" Zim sighed. "I will need some before this day is over."

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Gaz snorted as her brother collapsed yet again. _Good grief, we'll be old by the time he figures everything out._ She glanced down her back curiously. There it sat, just below her shoulder-blades. She had wasted no time acquiring paint and, with the aid of GIR and a mirror, personalizing her PAK with a skull.

She didn't understand Dib. By the time he and Zim had finished explaining the situation, Dib looked more withdrawn and depressed than she'd ever seen him. On the other hand, _she_ felt good. They were finally going somewhere, even if it was with a psycho alien and his idiot robot. The fact that Zim was her half-brother didn't bother her much. All she had to do was glare in his direction and he scuttled away to busy himself with the ship's controls.

She touched the PAK, careful to avoid the still-drying paint. It was smooth and cold to the touch, and gave off a sterile, metallic scent. Zim had explained, more for Dib's sake than hers, that the PAKs were specialized for them. Since hyumans were born with personalities and acquired memories as they grew, these were not programmed into their PAKs. They would also, Zim assured, not die if their PAKs were removed, but it would be extremely painful. Gaz merely shrugged. She had no intention of removing the PAK, ever. It was too much fun.

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_Click. Click. Click. Click._

Her boots rang off the hull of the Massive in resounding echoes. Pausing just long enough to receive the packet of information from the guards, she passed through the entry of her ship, which sealed behind her.

Settling into the piloting seat, she engaged the ship's computer in a few murmured words. It lifted off, engines quietly thrumming, and pushed into deep space. Surrounded by whirling stars and planets, she relaxed and flipped open the folder, skipping over the photographs. She didn't need them, she knew what they looked like. Her eyes narrowed in anger. Oh how she knew.

Briefly skimming their biographies, she intently perused the Earth newsclippings. Headlines screamed about the alien that had abducted two Earth-children and blasted a house to rubble. Smirking, she noted any mention of the Professor was vague. "Not even a quote." She muttered.

**Coordinates?**

She glanced up to the computer speaker. "Earth." She spun away from the view as the universe flashed by. "I want a few words with the Professor."

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GIR grinned manically. _Dib's daaaaancin' like a monkeeee!_

_No, he's fallin' like a mongoose._

_Do mongeese fall?_

He giggled as Dib wobbled forward again. Behind him, the computer cleared its throat.

"Oh yeah," the bot spun around and hit a few buttons, bringing the ship to an abrupt landing. With a grunt, Dib flew backwards, smashing into the wall. GIR was too busy singing the Doom song to notice the death glare Dib sent winging his way.

"Master! Master, I landeded!" He beamed proudly. "Now whatcha do? Whatcha do?"

Zim stumbled forward, gripping the wall with one hand. "Sell the Voot, GIR."

**Excuse me?**

"Not you, computer. I'm taking your hard drive on the new ship."

"What new ship?" Dib asked.

"The one in your ear that I'm going to pull out of your giant head, Dib." Zim rolled his eyes. "What do you think? The one I'm going to buy. The Voot is too small for the four of us."

**I repeat, excuse me?**

"The five of us," Zim corrected. "Zim managed to save a few thousand monies. That plus the value of the Voot Cruiser should allow us a more comfortable ship with living quarters."

"Good thinking," Gaz muttered. "I'm tired of Dib's feet in my face when I'm trying to sleep."

"Hey! Yours don't exactly smell like roses, y'know." He shot back.

"Silence! You both smell like hyuman, end of discussion." Zim stormed out of the Cruiser, slamming the door.

Gaz raised an eyebrow. "What's eating him?"

GIR's eyes pooled with tears. "He's gonna miss th' Voot. We's flown it lotsa lotsa lotsa places. We flewed it all th' way from Irk." He sniffed, wiping his eyes. "I'm gonna missit too."

**Note:** Who is the mysterious female bounty hunter? Personally, I think it's _painfully_ obvious, but I must ask just to see if you know. Apologies for curt author notes, like I said, I'm in a foul mood...


	3. What was she like?

**Note:** You'll never guess who the mysterious bounty hunter is. And if you do, kudos to you. But you never will now, not in a million years.

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_Ding!_

**The coffee has been prepared according to your specifications.**

"Hmm? Oh, yes, bring it to me." A robotic arm slithered up beside her, proffering the cup of steaming brown liquid. She had found this strange Earth-drink useful in aiding her wakefulness during her stay there. She tossed it down in a single gulp, savoring the burning pain as the heat sloshed down her gullet.

She grinned darkly. Pain was good. It showed you were still alive to feel it. And she would make sure the renegades felt very alive before they were put to death.

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Zim yanked at his antennae. "Dib, I swear, if you once more attempt to use your legs before Zim gives permission, I will remove them from your body!"

From his now-familiar position on the floor, Dib glared at the alien. "Easy for you to say, you've been using this thing all your life! Do you have any idea how hard it is to learn something this complex at my stage of development?"

"Yes!" Shrieked Zim. "You have only mentioned it twelve times! Dib, if you do not learn these functions soon, Zim is all too aware that it will become even _more_ difficult for your limited hyuman brain to incorporate the functions of your PAK, now PLEASE get off the floor using the spiderlegs!"

"Hey, Dib." Both of them glanced up to see Gaz, brushing her hair. "Having trouble with your PAK?" She smirked, using slow, deliberate strokes.

Dib's mouth dropped open and he hyperventilated. "G-G-Gaz! N-not the—"

Gaz dangled the brush in front of him. "Oh, is this yours? Didn't I hear something about Nanook, the lost Eskimo ghost of the North being the last to use this?"

"Her name was Sachook, and you're not supposed to touch my paranormal gear! Gimme that!" He lunged after her. Laughing, she extended her spiderlegs and bounded across the room. Without thinking, Dib unfolded his own and dashed after her, shouting for it to be given back.

Chuckling, Zim watched, amused. There was more to Gaz than met the eye.

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_It's so dark… why can I not see anything?_

Professor Membrane reached his hand forward, groping for the lamp that sat on his nightstand. It hit him that he was not in his bed, that he was stretched out on a cold, metal floor. The hum of an engine sounded by his ear. Gingerly sitting up, he felt in the direction of the sound.

The room flooded with light, blinding him with pain. Cursing, he shielded his eyes and glanced up to see… "You! What are you doing here? And where is here?"

A gravelly laugh came from the black, hooded figure before him. "I'm after what you're after, Professor. Except I'm in it for the reward, whereas you desire the remains, am I correct?"

He frowned. "I don't know what you are talking about, you should stick to—"

"In case you haven't noticed, _Professor,_" she sneered, "I am more than what you thought I was. I'm surprised Dib never figured it out, what with his knack for the paranormal."

Membrane shook his head, dazedly. "This is not happening, you are a figment of my overtired imagin—OW!" The black figure darted forward and dealt a sharp blow to the side of his head.

"Professor, I can be your friend or your enemy, but believe me, you do not want me for an enemy." Her eyes glowed a deep red. "I have many abilities. Disguise is but one of them. Now you are going to tell me everything you know about what happened, everything you did not tell the newspapers. Any scrap of information may be a useful clue as to where your children and this Zim are. And when we find them, I collect the reward monies, and you collect the bodies. It is quite simple."

"And if I wish to return to Earth immediately and wait for the Tallests to send the remains?" he glowered.

She flexed a set of long, sharp claws. "I make your life a living nightmare."

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Dib stretched out on his bed, wincing as the motion pulled at his sore muscles and still-healing scars. "Good ol' Zim," he muttered. He stared up at the ceiling where he had plastered his favorite poster. It was very new, Zim had pulled it from a scene in his memories and had the computer print it up. Despite his professed confusion over the familial affection Dib had for a female parental unit that had died, he proved surprisingly sensitive in that regard.

She sat in their front lawn, ankle-length black hair plaited in a braid. Her deep, lavender eyes shone with merriment and her mouth curved in a full, white-toothed smile. If Dib closed his eyes and concentrated hard, he could feel the cool grass under his feet, the light breeze blowing past his cheeks. The sound of his Mama's bubbling laugh as she called him. Her arms holding him close, fingers combing through his hair—

"Dib?" He shot up, panting. Gaz leaned in his doorway, an odd expression on her face.

"Gaz! Don't scare me like that."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever." Straightening, she turned to leave.

"No, wait, what do you want?"

She hesitated, then turned to face him. "Dib, what was she like?"

He glanced up at the poster. "Her?"

"Yeah. I wasn't exactly aware of anything much when she died, I don't remember anything about her."

Sighing, he patted the bed beside him. She plopped down beside him and they stared at the poster together. "Well, she was pretty and loving, and always listened when I needed to talk to her…"

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Eavesdropping was not a favorite past-time for Zim, but he couldn't help pausing by Dib's door as he spun descriptions of Invader Stok for Gaz. Peeking in, he saw them leaning back against the pillows, staring at the poster on the ceiling. Something in his squeedly-spooch twinged, and he felt as though his heart had gained weight. Frowning, he shook himself and marched off to the med-bay. He couldn't afford to be sick, not with two smeets and an insane robot to look after.

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**Note:** Y'know how I said there was no ZADR in this story? Well there's also no DAGR, so for those of you who went there, THAT'S SICK! It's not happening, it's innocent brother/sister time! Sheesh…


	4. I have work to do

I am deeply abashed. The bounty hunter was guessed correctly by DeficientAtLife, applause and IZ plushies for her. So far, nobody else has guessed correctly. By the way, any story tips or ideas are welcome. If I use them, or even use a version of them, I'll give you credit. The only limiter is you can't suggest who the bounty hunter will be, I already have that set in stone.

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Trying to hold back impatience, Zim watched as Dib faultlessly walked the length of the room on his spiderlegs. Dib's eyebrows drew together in concentration as he forced the claws at the end of each leg to grip the wall. Slowly he pulled himself up. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he moved on to the ceiling. Every motion required intense focus, full—

"Boo."

"AUGH!" He slipped from the ceiling, flailing. Splayed, his spiderlegs caught him a few feet above the floor. Gaz smirked at him from her position on the ceiling.

"At least you caught yourself this time." Grumbled Zim. "That's enough with the legs, rest and be back in the training room in two hours, you'll be learning to use your lasers and force-field." With that he trudged out of the room.

Rubbing his sore shoulder blades, Dib grimaced. "What's eating him?"

Gaz dropped lightly next to him, sipping an Irken beverage. "Beats me. Just as long as he doesn't start pulling that superiority junk and getting all high-and-mighty, I figure everything's okay. Why, what's the problem?"

Dib stared at the exit Zim had used. "Nothing, I just… nothing." He folded up his spiderlegs and wobbled toward his room. Gaz plopped herself in something that resembled a beanbag and began fiddling with her GameSlave.

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Dib stood in front of his mirror, cradling one spiderleg in his arms, stroking its shiny metal, running his finger from the slender rods and knobby joints to the fine tip. He pulled out his communicator, Ocular Enhancers, jets, lasers, and force-field projectors. He stared at his image.

"I'm a walking Swiss-Army knife," he remarked dryly. But the more he stared at the mirror, the less he could see Dib Membrane. All he could see was his father pointing him to a door to a hall booby-trapped with poison gas. Zim grinning sadistically as he cut Dib open to reveal his not-so-hyuman organs. Every kid in Ms. Bitter's class who avoided him and treated him like a freak.

"Guess they were right."

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Zim sat in the pilot's seat and stretched. "Ahhh, a few hours of glorious peace."

"Master Ziiiiiiiiiiim!"

"GIR, leave me alone! Zim is enjoying peace."

GIR cocked his head to the side, giggling. "Isit a peeece of caaaaaaaaake? I WAN' SOME!"

Zim ducked as GIR swooped over his head and landed on the controls. "There's some in the kitchen-room, go find it." shouted Zim, shoving GIR off the panel. The bot toddled out, unaware of the stress it caused its master.

Leaning back, Zim was just contemplating a soak in the medical tank to relieve his tension when a second voice invaded his thoughts.

"Um, Zim?"

"What now?" Zim snapped irritably.

Dib paused, trying to gather the right words. "Zim, what am I?"

He could almost hear the alien rolling his eyes. "You are the first Irken-Hyuman hybrid, wanted dead on two planets, and an intergalactic outlaw just for being alive."

"I know that, spaceboy," Dib said tersely. "I mean what am I?" Zim turned to face him quizzically. Dib tried again. "_Who_ am I?"

Zim's stared blankly at Dib. "You are Dib Membrane, son of Invader Stok and Professor Membrane, and you are currently bothering a very annoyed Irken, now if you would excuse me, I have work to do!" Zim whirled back to the controls, checking their course and running a brief scan of the ship.

Dib stiffened and walked out angrily. _I have work to do._ He had heard it so many times he could say it in three languages while sleeping. _Fine, whatever. It doesn't matter anyway. It never did and never will._

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The professor had not been much help. What little he knew was, for the most part, of no consequence. She had drugged him to keep him under control and strapped him down in the cargo bay for safety. Couldn't trust a scientist to stay put on an alien vessel.

The one tip she had found useful was that Zim had left in a small vessel, most likely a Voot Cruiser of some type. She grinned. He couldn't go far with two smeets on such a small ship, he'd have to sell it and buy a larger one. Her fingers flew over the keypad of her ship. There were only four Ship dealers in this sector…

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**Note:** Again, apologies for the late update and short chapter, I've been… distracted… kinda working through some things. Thank you for your patience. )


	5. Dance Lessons

Much to my chagrin, my secret of the bounty hunter has been guessed again. Lustless, you are good at guessing challenges. Go win Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Patience, all who have been harassing me about GIR. There will be more of him later, I will try to figure something out.

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Dobleis stretched three of his six arms and yawned out of his left mouth. The right mouth chewed a wad of gummy substance, pausing just long enough to spit a foul juice every once in a while. It had been a slow week. He couldn't help wishing there would be a wreck so someone would buy a new ship from him.

A sleek, black ship cruised to a stop on the outskirts of the lot. Slicking back his head tentacles, he strutted to the gate, hoping it was a customer. The ramp slid out silently, and out came a creature with two mouths and six arms. _A fellow Doublexar!_ He thought delightedly. _And a rather attractive female as well._

She sauntered up to him, batting her eye. "I'm looking for a ship."

"Well," he drawled, "You've come to the right place. We have ships from all parts of the galaxy, from all time periods and cultures. Freight ships, passenger ships, deep space or hyperspace ships, cruisers—"

"I'm interested in your cruisers." she cut in.

Surprised at the interruption, he led her over to the cruiser lot, babbling about the history of that type of ship. Once there, she glanced around. "I'm looking for something Irken, these Voot Cruisers they make are famed."

Beaming, he led her to a small purple and red vessel. "You're in luck, lady. This is the only Voot on the lot right now. It's a bargain too 'cause it's used, and I'll lower the price even more if you'd let me buy you a drink la—" A soft, squishy darkness oozed from her hand, sealing his mouths and nose. His eye bulged as he struggled against her, but she only grinned and the darkness thickened. Her face twisted and melted, revealing deep red eyes and a flowing, shadowy body.

_A MorFlar! I knew it! I knew… something weird… was up…_ The edges of his vision blurred. His struggles became more feeble. He began to think of how tired he was, how nice it would be to sleep…

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She released the corpse and it toppled backward, its mouths gaping in their last attempts to suck air in.

"Pity," she sniffed. "I would have enjoyed a drink." Leisurely strolling across the lot, she boarded her ship and brought it off the groung. Maneuvering it above the Voot Cruiser, she began manipulating controls. Huge robotic arms extended from the ship and grasped the Cruiser, drawing it into the cargo bay. With that, the ship blasted into deep space.

Not even a second thought was given to the stiffening shell in the dust of the ship lot.

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"GIR, if you don't give me back my GameSlave right now, I'll pull you apart to upgrade it!" For three hours Gas had chased the crazy bot through the ship. He, of course, thought it was a game of Grumpy Tag, where the grumpy one tried to catch the happy one.

GIR was swinging from a light in the ceiling, making Tarzan noises. Worn out, Gaz could no longer employ her PAK functions, but it didn't matter. Even when she did use them, she couldn't catch him.

"Not until you dance wiv meeeeee!"

"No, not again!" She yelled. "I danced with you once, never again!" She folded her arms and scowled at him.

A small tear hit her squarely on the forehead. His huge cyan eyes were pooling with tears. Her eye twitched. "Don't do that." Two more drops splattered her face. She strained to keep a tough front. "Your face will rust like that." GIR gave a loud sniff and a small, hiccupping sob. "Oh, alright," she growled, "But don't tell the guys."

"Yaaaaaay!" Before she could react, GIR leaped down from the ceiling, grabbed her hands, and spun her around the room, laughing. She gritted her teeth and two-stepped around the floor with him. Little by little she began to relax. A smile twitched at the corner of her mouth, and it only got wider when GIR popped in one of her Flogging Molly CDs.

_Ring a ring a rosies, as the light declines_

_I remember Dublin city in the rare ould times_

Closing her eyes she let GIR lead. The music filled her, told her it understood her, and communicated deep secrets with her. The words did not matter. Only the music was important.

A throat was cleared. Startled, she opened her eyes. Zim stood in the doorway, one antennae cocked in amusement. Fury boiled in her, but fell away as Zim stepped forward and asked, "What is this strange rhythmic movement you make? Tell Zim, is there a specific way it is done, and for what purpose is it made?"

She grinned and tossed GIR a knowing look. He giggled, and cranked up the volume to Drunken Lullabies.

"Welcome to dance lessons 101, Zim."

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_Must it take a life to make for hateful lives to glisten once again_

_Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess singing drunken lullabies_


	6. Encounter with Sideos

**Note: **YESSSS! Oh **_yeah_**, this chapter was a collaboration between myself and Invader Sideos. He gave me the basic idea and I wrote it up, sent it over to him so he could make character corrections on Sideos, and he sent it back, and here's the finished product. If you haven't read the works of Invader Sideos, DO SO! Or I will personally rain horrible doom on your unsuspecting head. Invader Sideos owns Invader Sideos and I don't own anybody in this chapter. Sad, is it not?

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He sat in the shadows of the seedy bar, his unnaturally dark purple eyes roaming over the crowd, sifting it for would-be bounty hunters. The Irken's boots rested on the table and he lent back on his chair, a small half empty glass of some pink substance in front of him. Idly he wondered what the bartender would look like with his head shredded to dangling bits. He grinned, tracing a long, sharpened claw across his table. It would be an improvement, he decided, watching as he left a scar across the alien wood of the table.

His gaze caught on an odd group across the room. Through the raucous brawls that colored the smoky atmosphere marched a short, uptight Irken. This, in itself, was not strange, considering many Irkens walked in with rods for spines and walked out looser than a half-twisted screw. But he was tailed by two hyumans and a SIR unit. Cyan eyes, not red.

Chuckling in surprise, he took his feet off the table and stood, brushing down his black and white striped shirt, the standard uniform color of an Irken mental patient. "There you have it, Sideos, you're not the only one the old Control Brain's after."

A voice echoed from his twisted mind, it sounded like a more cultured version of him. _Do you know who they are?_

"Who?" He quietly answered.

_They are the hybrids, the runaways, the ones that are right as we speak polluting our glorious Empire. _

At these words his razor sharp claws clenched tightly, a familiar rage boiling in his squeedly-spooch. "And the Control Brain thinks _I'm_ sick and insane. Hybrids? Diluting a near perfect race?" He cracked his claws. "That can be fixed. Maybe I can pick up some reward monies through a proxy deliverer when I'm through," he chuckled to himself. "And then kill the proxy."

The bony ex-invader stealthily skulked into the crowd, soon lost to sight in the knots of drunk Squelcharns and bickering Gasqueedlasplorches. As he drew closer to his targets, he caught snatches of their conversation.

"--meets stay here…on't talk to any being…you're mutes, under…must find repair-creature."

"But Zi… can't you fix…?"

"Foreign cru…ot like the Voot…"

Zim moved off, leaving the hyumans and the SIR unit to themselves. The female hyuman sat at a nearby table while the male remained standing, nervously glancing around. Aware of the problem the SIR unit could pose, Sideos was considering how to take it out when it moved off on its own. Climbing up on the nearby stage, it snatched a microphone and starting shrieking, "UNDER DA SEEEEEE!"

The male hyuman brushed back his black, sickle hair, as a more primal, vicious voice spoke up from within the insane Irken. _That one's called Dib, he was the first hybrid._ Dib seemed to relax a bit, smiling at the bots antics. _The other one's name is Gaz, _the angry voice echoed._ She's gonna be the last hybrid._ Sideos watched as she grunted and continued pushing buttons on a handheld computer.

Checking his position against the light so his shadow wouldn't betray his presence—the shocked expression was priceless—he slipped behind the sickle-haired one, simultaneously bringing a razor-sharp claw to his neck. Dib stiffened, and Sideos relished the terror in this creatures face.

"So," he purred insidiously into the boy's ear, "You're the hybrids. Funny, you don't look deformed." His claw wove back and forth across the tender skin at his victims neck. "I wonder if your blood tastes like Irken blood or Hyuman blood?"

"Hey, green, thin, and ugly, you're blocking my light."

"Gaz!" Dib called hoarsely, but Sideos pressed the claw into his neck harder, cutting off his plea.

Something crashed behind Sideos. He whipped around to spot Gaz rounding the table toward him, the computer discarded, her chair overturned.

"You were in my light." She spat.

"So?" He sneered.

"So you made me lose on level 39."

"So?"

"So, her eyes narrowed to slits. "Horrible fates happen to people who make me lose on level 39."

Sideos chuckled condescendingly. "You're joking. In two minutes I'll be wearing your skin as a coat." He turned back to where he had Dib pinned down.

His right arm twisted back and up, up past his shoulder-blades. He felt the screamingly painful sensation of bones about to crack. A sharp kick to his knees brought him down as a set of spiderlegs began bashing him about his head.

Growling in surprise, he yanked his arm free, feeling the burn of torn muscles, and whirled on the Gaz-hyuman. Dib immediately dashed off to locate Zim.

She towered above him on fully extended spiderlegs, her eyes flashing and her fists clenched. Without warning she swooped down, knocking him to the ground. The second time he was prepared, and seized her hair as she came back for a second pass. Dragging her off-balance, he pulled her face down to his, leering at her. Sucking in her cheeks, she spat in his eye.

The pain! _Flirking beings of water!_

His eye sizzled, and a large black splotch began spreading across it. Howling in rage, he pulled back his hand and dragged his claws across her face, tearing her fleshy skin like knives.

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Gaz' bravado deserted her. As she crumpled to the floor, she caught sight of Dib, frozen at the edge of the circle forming around the fight. He just stared, unmoving.

_Help me!_ She silently screamed at her dumb, frozen brother.

Hands wrapped around her neck, tilting it at an odd angle. Rancid, blood scented, breath washed over her face. "Have any of your race survived a broken, twisted neck?"

"Have yours?" Rang out Zim's voice. A heavy, metal stool flew through the air, crashing into the crazed Irken's skull.

Sideos' eyes dimmed. "That hurt…" Then he collapsed over Gaz, knocked out.

Swearing angrily, she shoved the stunned psychopath off and pushed herself to her feet. Dib rushed forward. "Gaz! You're bleeding, bad!" She lifted a hand to her face. Three deep gouges started at her left cheekbone and ran down across her face, biting through the bridge of her nose, and ending neatly below her other eye. The hand came away drenched in blood.

Zim dashed forward and snarled, "No time! For Irk's sake we've drawn enough attention already." He dragged her toward the doors, ignoring the applause from the bar patrons, as Dib caught GIR and followed.

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

He grimaced at the waves of pain slamming through his skull, drawing himself back to consciousness through them. Pain always fueled his anger, and anger fueled his killing drive. Staggering to his feet, he noticed he was no longer in the bar.

"Shame." He mumbled. "I could do with a stiff drink." He surveyed the small, metallic room with distaste. It wouldn't hold him for long. He strode to the room's single door when a sibilant voice stopped him.

"Not so fast. You will first provide me with the information I need." His head whipped around to catch the gaze of a dark, shadowy being with glowing, red eyes.

"I thought MorFlars were a dying race." He sneered.

It crossed the room menacingly, but Sideos felt no fear, only the exhilaration that preceded a fresh kill. He feinted right, then charged at the MorFlar, only to feel squishy darkness bind his limbs in immovable tightness. The eyes lowered to his face.

"I could kill you for that, but I will not. In return, you will provide me with information on precisely what happened in that bar before you were beaten by a bunch of defectives."

He growled lowly and bared his teeth. "I give you information you give me my life. That's not exactly an incredible bargain. Bounty hunters like you are half-a-money per thousand, and plenty are looking for me."

It chuckled appreciatively, and loosened its hold slightly. "And what if I told you I knew of a place that welcomes and shelters defectives, an isolated meteor far away from any Irken authorities?"

His eyes glistened in murderous delight. "I would say it was a good bargain. Tell me more of this place."

………………………………………………………………………………………………. 

THANK YOU INVADER SIDEOS FOR LETTING ME BORROW YOUR CHARACTER!


	7. Down for the Count

**Note:** I know it took me forever and it's a short chapter, I'm sorry. Finals are coming up and I'm stressed out of my mind.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

"You're lucky he didn't get your eye." Zim muttered as he watched the computer seal Gaz' wounds. She bit her lip as the instruments passed back and forth over her face.

"Will it scar?" Gaz rolled her eyes at her overanxious brother.

Zim pushed back the machinery and grasped her chin, examining the work as he turned her face. She winced, but relaxed when his claws didn't bite into her skin. _He's being deliberately gentle._ The realization surprised her.

"A little," Zim admitted, "But not half as bad as it would have if she had been treated at a primitive Earth-healing center."

She reached out and seized Dib's jacket collar, pulling his face down. Ignoring his protest, she studied the reflection in his glasses. Three, fine pink scars ran across her face, mere traces of what they had been, but enough to remind her not to tangle with psycho Irkens.

She shoved Dib back, mumbling to Zim, "Thanks, I guess." Glancing around moodily, she grunted, "Where's that stupid robot? Usually he's here making idiotic comments at this point."

Dib forced a smile. "He would be, but he's… busy." Gaz raised an eyebrow. "He's replacing the broken ship part right now."

She laughed. "GIR fixing the ship? We're doomed."

"You misunderstand, Gaz," Zim cut in, "He _is_ the part, at least for now.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

_A red one, a blue one a-yella one_

_A green one, a pink one a-purple one_

_A gray one, a white one a-or'nge one_

_Th' wires all stickin' outta meeeee!_

……………………………………………………………………………………………

"Gaz?" She refused to glance up from her GameSlave. Dib inched into her room. "Gaz, I'm sorry, I don't know what happened."

"I do," she spat, "you froze up like the idiot coward you are."

Stung, he yelled, "What was I supposed to do, Gaz? You're better trained than me and he trounced you. I wouldn't have been able to stop him!"

"You could have tried!" She flipped the controls faster and faster. "You didn't even try to save me!" Her GameSlave began smoking. "I would have died and he would have walked away scott-free, and you would have stood there looking after him, going 'duh, huh?'" The game exploded, pelting Dib with hot circuits and plastic shreds. "Get out." She rasped.

Fuming, Dib retreated to his quarters. He punched a button in the wall and shouted, "Computer? Combat simulation!" The room melted away to a crowded, indoor arena, overflowing with spectators. Dib stood in the corner of a raised platform, shirtless, his bony chest heaving in and out with anticipation and rage. The computer's personified projection, the referee, stepped forward.

**Who is your opponent?**It asked. Twenty yards away, at the other end of the platform, a shapeless form wavered.

"Gaz," he said bitterly.

The form morphed, shortening, developing feminine features. Ragged purple hair curled around her angry face. She smacked her fist into her hand in challenge. The referee, knowing better than to interfere, stepped down from the platform to watch at a safe distance.

Gaz charged forward, whipping out one spiderleg and positioning it like a sword. Dib smirked. It was so like his sister to dispense with opening pleasantries. _Two can do that, Gaz._

He dodged her first stroke, not bothering with his spiderlegs. He caught her chin with his left fist and socked her stomach with the other. She grunted in surprise, stepping back, but he didn't give her the chance to recover. He swung with calculated vengeance, over and over. Her lip split, teeth flew, and huge bruises developed. Long after she had gone down for the 8-second count, he pummeled her.

Someone was crying.

Shocked, he lowered his clenched hands. Gaz crying? Not even a hologram of Gaz could cry! But it wasn't the hologram. At the corner of the platform, watching with wide, tear-filled eyes, was GIR.

Guilt pounded Dib. "Computer, end simulation."

**Whatever you say.** Dib's room reappeared, reality was restored, and GIR sat on his bed, staring at him as though he were a stranger.

"GIR… I…" GIR's lip trembled. "I… that wasn't really her… I wouldn't really… I…. I…." he trailed off, feeling lame. GIR sniffled. Dib moved forward to assure GIR he was really sorry, but the bot let out a piercing scream and bolted from the room, leaving a shamefaced Dib in his wake.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

She scanned the small Voot cruiser for data, snorting derisively at the recordings of Zim attempting to teach PAK functions to a hyuman smeet. "Pity all that training will go to waste." she sniffed. The equipment picked up a voice outside of the Voot in the recording. She lowered the quality of the inside sounds and tuned in to the outside noise.

"So where ya gotta go that this ship can't take ya? I mean, a Voot can go pretty far, why d'ya need a bigger ship?"

"Shut your meat-holes, the reasons of selling are Zim's, and not yours. Now how much for that Vortian cruiser?"

Frowning, she refocused on inside noises. The negotiations of ship-buyers would give her no clues. She rolled her eyes as the idiotic little SIR unit danced across the screen, singing happily, "Under da seee, under da seeeeee."

Her eyes widened. _Why didn't I think of it before? _Hundredacy, the nexus of the Shatnirka galaxy. Her fingers flew over her computer's keyboard, pulling up coordinates to the supply planet. With so many thousands of species passing through on that planet every day, it would be easy to lose oneself and one's unwanted past. She grinned as the bright turquoise ball was located, and patted the screen where GIR was still broadcasting their destination for all to hear. "Many thanks, little SIR."

"Under da seeee!"


	8. You can't know

**Note: **There is absolutely no excuse that could possibly excuse an absence that lated… GOOD IRK! I've been gone over a month? I'm sorry! I'm sorry! bares back to let you all whip me

………………………………………………………………………………………

Dib sat on the chair, scowling at the floor. He refused to meet Zim's unrelenting gaze.

"I'm not going away, smeet. You _are_ going to tell Zim why GIR ran into the med-bay, screaming his head off that you killed Gaz."

No response.

Zim leaned back on his spiderlegs. "Is this about what happened the other day at the bar?" The question earned a barely perceptible nod. Zim scowled. "And just what _did_ happen?"

Silence. Then, "I stood by and watched my sister almost get killed."

"Why didn't you try to use your PAK weapons? I've been teaching you laser control and aim for weeks now and—"

"I froze up, okay! I didn't have Invader training, I didn't have 50 years or whatever it was you had to build up courage. For gosh sakes Zim, I'm still a kid! I'm just a kid who doesn't want to be planet-hopping to save my life, I don't want to have to learn how to operate a PAK, I don't want to be a hybrid! I want to be a normal teenage boy living on Earth with two… two… normal parents that… love… me…" hot tears dripped from his cheeks.

Mortified, Zim barked, "Stop that! Stop now! You're making water all over yourself, it's not healthy. Even smeets three days old do not show such—"

"Shut up!" Dib shouted, "I don't want to hear what Irken smeets did or did not do, I am hyuman! Irkens have no concept of family, you have no idea how hard it is to find out one parent wasn't what you were taught she was and that the other only cares you come back in one piece so he can see how weird your insides are! I'm not Irken, do you hear me? I'm not Irken, I'm hyuman, HYUMAN!" Dib had risen to his feet and was yelling at the alien, his glasses flecked with teardrops.

"No you are not," returned Zim sternly, "And you should be honored to be—"

"Oh shove off! Spare me the whole monologue on what an honor it is to be Irken, alright? When you know what it's like to find out your whole life has been a lie, then you can talk to me."

With that, Dib turned and darted out, not caring where on the ship he ran, as long as it was away from the others. The Vortian Cruiser wasn't a luxery ship, big enough to comfortably fit its crew of three fugitives and one robot, but at the back of the ship was a vent, big enough for Dib to slide into. More and more often he'd been exploring the vent system, learning its twists and turns, and sometimes spying on Zim for old time's sake. Here he took refuge, here he hid his tears.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Zim scowled. "Hyumans think they know everything." He muttered, stomping over to his personal quarters. "And their smeets are the worst." He kicked the door open and slammed it shut behind him. Dropping into his seat, he reviewed the clip obtained from GIR's memory. "So Dib beats the flirk out of a hologram. So what?"

_So it's his sibling unit._

_The point?_

_Hyumans value familial units. If that's what he feels like doing, there's something wrong._

_Flackle. I was fighting like that at two weeks old._

_He wasn't raised like that. Give him some credit._

_Who ever gave Zim any credit?_

His thoughts were interrupted by a flashing icon on the monitor. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the symbol of the Irken Empire. "Computer, secure or open transmission?"

**Transmission is secure. No tracking device encoded.**

Zim frowned as he brought up the transmission. The faces of Almighty Tallests Red and Purple materialized, and neither looked pleased.

He saluted stiffly. "My Tallests, to what do I owe this conversation?"

Red glared balefully. "Don't be a clown, Zim. You know what. We're calling to offer a deal. Turn yourselves in and we'll give you an honorable death. You had this chance once, and you blew it. Don't miss your last opportunity, unless you really want to go down as the defective coward that you are."

"Pleasant to speak with you as well, my Tallests," hissed Zim, "but I must say no."

"Why? What so special about these hybrids that's worth sacrificing your honor? _You're_ the one that first alerted us to them! Was it just because you were sentenced to death as well?"

Zim winced at the accusation. He was not completely sure of his own motives for saving Dib, and then Gaz.

Purple rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me it's because of Stok, Zim. Only primitive species still cling to the idea of the familial unit."

Gritting his teeth, Zim bit out, "Did you contact Zim only to discuss a surrender which will not happen?"

"Nope." Purple sipped a slushee. "We also wanted to let you know you're fired. You're not an Invader."

He'd known this for some time, but the words still stung. "It doesn't matter anymore." He lied.

"It never did." Grinned Red. Zim raised an antenna in confusion. Red yawned. "Maybe we should have told you earlier, but we were having too much fun."

Purple snickered. "Yeah, it was real funny, everyone in the galaxy knew."

"Knew what?" A horrible sinking feeling began in Zim's squeedly spooch.

"Oh, just that we sent you to Earth to get you out of the way." Red shrugged. "Worked great y'know, for the most part. Your calls got annoying though, so we started transmitting them publicly for laughs."

Chuckling, Purple took a large bite out of a donut. "Yeah, you're a joke, Zim. Still sure you want to turn down our offer?"

Zim's face was blank, devoid of emotion. He stared uncomprehendingly at the screen.

_Zim? A joke?_

………………………………………………………………………………………………

A scream of rage shook the ship. Dib jerked out of his self-pity huddle and scrambled out of the vent. Gaz poked her head out of her room, grunted, "Whiner." And returned to gaming.

_CRASH!_

Dib jumps and darted down the hall toward the noise. "Zim?" He reached the Irken's door. Behind he heard screams and curses. Shoving it open he stepped in—and stopped dead.

The alien stood in front of his monitor, plunging his fists into the screen over and over, yanking out wires and shattering glass. His immaculate black gloves were shredded and his hands were cut to ribbons, oozing green blood, but he continued to flail at the sparking machinery.

Alarmed, Dib rushed in and grabbed Zim's arms, wincing at the sight of glass shards embedded in his claws. "Zim! Knock it off! Get ahold of yourself!"

"LIES! LIES! LIES! THEY LIEEEEE!"

"Who lies? Who, Zim?"

"The Talleeeeeeeeeeests!" he wailed, sinking to his knees. His shoulders shook with suppressed emotion.

Dib knelt beside Zim and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, calm down, alright?" he sighed, gingerly lifting Zim's right hand and easing out the glass. "What happened, can you tell me?"

Invader's pride screamed _no_. 150 years of controlling his emotions said _no_. The history of his species said _no_. But as Zim raised his red orbs to Dib's concerned bown eyes, the eyes of a creature related to him, the eyes of a creature that cared enough to stop him from harming himself, he found himself spilling his story to his former enemy.


	9. Hundredacy

He stared at his claws, bandaged in white rolls of gauze, stained deep green.

_Real stupid, Zim. Don't hit glass with your bare claws. Duh!... Good Irk, was that a Zim thought or a Dib thought?_

_And what on Irk was I doing telling Dib what happened? I have to keep hold of myself. I don't have the Tallests to look to anymore. Zim looks to Zim._

_What about Gaz and Dib?_

_Smeets, barely crawling by Irken standards._

_But your age in Earth standards._

_Flackle-siln. Zim is over a hundred years older than either of them. Even on Earth, experience equals… equals… what does it equal?_

_It doesn't matter. Don't depend on anyone but Zim now. Dib, Gaz, and GIR need Zim. Zim needs no one._

_Right?_

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Professor Membrane sat on his cot. Occasionally she had come in to probe him with questions he had no answers for, or give him a tray of food that was almost, but not quite like, Earth fare.

On the right side of the door hung three pictures. Dib, Gaz, and Zim. Zim was in his victorious Irken pose, his antennae swept back and his mouth frozen in mid-exclamation. Gaz's hair hung in her face as she bent over her Gameslave. Dib stared cluelessly at something just outside the picture frame.

He averted his eyes from Dib's confused features, stabbed by the memory of the betrayal on his son's face.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

_ "I protected him. They could have taken him and Gaz apart, but I didn't let them!" Membrane yelled._

_Dib gazed at his father with hate-filled eyes. "Look me in the face and tell me you wouldn't have let me die in that hallway, that if I died you wouldn't have cut me open to look at my insides. Tell me you would never have run experiments on me for the good of mankind."_

_Membrane straightened, but avoided Dib's eyes. "Son, science is everything. I cannot expect you to understand, being a child, but there is more at stake than just—"_

_"TELL ME!" Dib screamed._

_Membrane brought his eyes up to Dib's and said stoically, "I would never have done these things to you."_

_Dib's face twisted in rage. "LIAR! I saw what you did, I remember!"_

_The Professor drew himself up and said coldly, "Dib, the world is bigger than you. You may not understand how unusual your position is, but I do, and I had to make full use of the resources at hand."_

_"Sure Dad, forgive me for forgetting that even your own children are expendable for the sake of the world." Twisting his neck around, he told Zim, "Up the stairs, to the roof quick!"_

_Zim bounded for the stairs, leaving one speechless professor standing by his flashing barricade._

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The Professor frowned. "Science, it's all for science. Nothing is more important. Nothing."

_Not even your kids?_

He clenched his fists. _They're not children. They're specimens, freaks of nature. Products of races that never should have mixed. Stok should have taken that seriously._

_Why did it have to change when she told you? You loved her…_

_I didn't know!_

_But before you knew—_

_Doesn't matter! I was ignorant, and I'll make up for that ignorance no matter what!_

Grimly he set about eliminating his emotions about the situation by imagining three empty autopsy tables waiting for his use back on Earth.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The first thing you noticed on Hunderdacy was the profound lack of noise. All over the planet, thousands of mouths moved, beaks clicked, tentacles writhed, splorgens vibrated. But not a single sound could be heard. The waterless surface of the planet teemed with Doblexars, 5-mouthed Devorrahs, Irkens, Slorbeasts, Gasqueedlasplorches, PlanetJackers, and the occaisional Morflar. Each being moved about in its own laser enforced bubble, to keep away foreign diseases from the multiple races that poured through the planetary system every trinam1. The bubble kept out odor, bacteria, viruses, and sound.

But communication was not dead, far from it. One had only to picture a person or creature for the telepathic matrix of the bubble to cross reference with all the bubbles of planetary visitors and link with that being's bubble. The process took five seconds, but promising scientists swear they'll fix the time-lag problem within the next four trinams.

In the middle of the soundless atmosphere, a good-sized Vortian cruiser dropped down for a landing.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"No, we need a set of four-way connections. Con-nec-tions you fool, not complexions! GRAH! You revolting, irritating, idiotic machine!" Zim banged on his console. It was his fifth attempt to order the bubbles, set to his specifications, and he had no patience for the chipper personality of the order machine.

**So let me get this right, five bubbles with an interconnected communication system?**

"NO! FOUR BUBBLES!"

**Four bubbles, coming your way.** Chirped the machine.

Zim's eyes widened. "No, wait! Don't forget the interconnected communication system!"

**The what?**

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Dib sighed as he removed the bandages from Zim's claws. They showed faint scarring, but the nanobots had done their work well. He didn't ask why Zim hadn't just had the computer help. He doubted Zim knew why himself.

"Don't go punching out monitors again, alright?"

Zim rolled his orbs. "Right, Zim will keep that in mind."

"Are you two gonna play doctor all day or are we gonna deboard?"

"Coming Gaz." The boys mumbled in unison.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Four bubbles descended from the ship's bay doors. Purple, green, blue, and cyan. Zim connected his bubble with the parking payment device and put in some moneys.

"Where we goin'? Where we goin'? Where we goin'?" GIR bounced, using his bubble to cartwheel around the spaceport.

Zim pointedly ignored the manic SIR as he led the little band down a lifter and into the jostling crowd. He had been to Hundredacy a few times on interplanetary assignments, and most of the rented dwellings were unsafe places, unsuitable for smeets, run by swindlers or thugs. But he knew of a decent place that would not cost his antennae. Weaving through the lines and tangles of bubbles, he led the entourage toward a line of dwellings.

_Zim._

He froze. That was not Dib, Gaz, or GIR. That voice… there was something familiar about it…

_Haha. I found you, Zim._

He shivered, but shrugged it off. He had to get the smeets to shelter. Irk knew they couldn't take care of themselves if their lives depended on it. He called to them impatiently, and led on.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

She laughed quietly to herself. From her view above the crowd, she could see she'd unsettled him. His eye was twitching and he wrung his claws occasionally.

_Soon, my little Invader. Soon._

1 Trinam is equal to three Earth months.


	10. Dead End

**Note:** No excuse. I won't even bother. There is none. I'm sorry. Forgive me for not updating for two or three months. But I promise you this, the story WILL be finished. I won't abandon it. It's too good now, besides, I don't know the ending myself...

Dib arched an eyebrow, watching Zim pace. He'd managed to get them all a decent place to stay, which included the equivalent of a bathroom, a kitchen, and an alien broadcast receiver. Everything seemed fine, but ever since they'd stepped off the ship Zim had been on edge, jumping at every shadow, yelling about minor irritants. Dib had known him long enough to tell that the Irken was scared. Badly. And if something could frighten a hardened Irken soldier, it was worth his concern as well.

"Uh, Zim?"

Zim leaped, clinging to the ceiling. "Makralin niyurma shatnirka flam! DIB DO NOT SCARE ZIM!" He gingerly climbed down, glaring at Dib.

Dib suppressed a smile. "What was all that stuff before you yelled at me?"

"Nothing for smeet ears, now what is it?" Irritation colored his voice.

"You've been edgy ever since we left the ship, what's up?"

Zim looked down at himself. "What a stupid question. Zim has no edges, and what is up is the ceiling."

Dib breathed deeply and counted to ten before trying again. "I mean you've been yelling at everyone and jumping at every little thing. What's the problem?"

"Nothing, nothing is wrong with Zim. Go monitor the broadcasts or something." He stalked out of the room. Dib threw up his hands and plopped down on the hovercouch. Picking up the controller device, he turned on the broadcast receiver and leaned back to watch. Not too long after, he sat bolt upright, eyes glued to the screen.

"Zim! Gaz! Get in here!"

Zim closed the door to the common room, breathing heavily. There were some things not even Dib could be told. The only creatures capable of telepathy were Morflars and Five-Mouthed Devorrahs. Both had no problem bolting down an Irken for a meal. He prayed it was a Devorrah, he could fight them. But a Morflar...

Dib's yelp brought him back to the common room. The hyuman pointed at the broadcast screen where three crude photographs were flashing on the screen. Zim. Dib. Gaz. Zim cursed.

"Pack! Pack now, the room owner will know, he'll call authorities, they might lock off our ship. Pack!"

The next half hour was a flurry of frantic packing for Zim and Dib. Gaz couldn't have cared less, and GIR was busy sucking on the window.

How could he communicate the urgency? If a Devorrah was tracking them, they had little to no time, especially with that broadcast. If a Morflar was tracking them--he shut down the thought. He wouldn't think that way. It would disable him, keep him from what he had to do.

In the alley behind the building, Zim gave the hyumans a brief lesson in how to use the cloaking devices in their PAKs. GIR flickered in and out of sight, laughing and screaming, "LOOKAT MEEEE!" Eventually Zim shut him down to keep him from giving them away, and handed him off to Dib.

They stepped into their bubbles and, with their cloaking devices on and enclosing the bubbles, rolled down the streets.

It was early morning, and few beings were awake at the time, so the trio had no difficulty maneuvering the streets. Gaz's eyes were squinted shut as usual, and her hair hid her expression. Dib's eyes darted around, scanning the area, his paranoid instinct screaming at him as he clutched their silent SIR. Zim's gaze was fixed ahead as he rolled ahead, continually pushing for more speed. His squeedlyspooch twisted with anxiety as he pictured the worst--no! He scolded himself for letting his thoughts wander that far and rolled through the gate to reach the ship.

_Welcome, green one. Welcome to your final destination._

Zim froze, his cloaking device fizzling out. There, in front of him, stood a familiar figure. Dib and Gaz dropped their cloaking as well, mortified.

"You have to be kidding me," Dib mumbled.

Ms. Bitters grinned widely. "Welcome to your last session of class, students." Her frame shifted, melting, darkening, stretching. She shot upward to a height of twenty feet, her body thickened and absorbed her arms and legs. A black, swaying creature stood there, smirking through flame-red eyes.

Blind, instinctual terror like nothing he had ever experienced fell on Zim. He turned and bolted, without any thought but escape. The Morflar seemed to smirk, and followed Zim nonchalantly.

_You can't hide. You know that. I can smell Irkens a galaxy away. I knew you were coming to Earth three months before you reached it, and I'd already marked you as the next meal._

Zim pushed harder, ran faster, abandoning the bubble and tearing down the street. He bowled over Slorbeasts and Gruggnigs, but didn't stop. A patrol officer raised a laser to stop the disruptive Irken, but was passed before he could open his mouth.

_You can't win. You know the ending. A Morflar never misses, never loses a catch._

A desperate cry escaped him as he dived down an alley.

_Why prolong it?_

Dead end. Walled in by three sides, and she filled the only way out, staring down at him with greedy eyes.

_Get it over with._

He croaked, shaking. She closed in, filling his vision, sending out flares to brush his skin. He shuddered and jerked away from her.

_Come. Give in. Give up. You can't escape._

Zim's mind whirled, teetering on the brink of insanity. Was this all he amounted to? A Morflar's meal? A snack that would take 100 years to digest? He lost control. Wailing in terror, he curled up in a little ball and closed his eyes. The Morflar smirked,

_Good. Good Zim. Insane Irkens are easier to consume._

Darkness surrounded him, folded over him. Soft, spongy mass pressed against him on all sides, beginning to absorb him. He thrashed, but his movements were slow and awkward, hindered by the digestive goo. He screamed, but made no sound. His flailings became weaker and weaker, then stopped altogether as the walls of the Morflar's digestive system closed around him, keeping him still, absorbing his life.

_Have a good hundred years, my little green snack._

**Note:** Not many of you saw that coming, but for those of you who did, kudos to you, your mind is as morbid as mine. Go get help. No this isn't the end.


	11. Swallowed Up

**Note: **I give you all full permission to shoot me for not updating in forever. However I will point out to you that this chapter is nearly twice as long as usual, perhaps making up for my tardiness? Please don't kill me!!!!

Also, and this should cheer you up, I don't expect there will be more than two more chapters, if that many, left to go.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Dib gaped as the creature he once called Ms. Bitters glided out after Zim. _That… that thing was tracking us… and he didn't say anything?_ A hand gripping his arm brought him back to the present. Gaz clung to Dib, cutting off the circulation in his arm, her eyes huge. He followed her gaze, and gaped.

There was a little more slouch in his posture, and streaks of gray now threaded his hair, but there was no mistaking the man before them.

"…Daddy…" Gaz squeaked.

Membrane's face hardened at the title, and he raised a smooth, oblong device to eye level. "I am not your father. I refuse to be your father." Gaz cringed as he stepped forward, seething. "You were mistakes, freaks of nature! You shouldn't have happened, and if I had known the truth from the start, you _wouldn't_ have happened!" Gaz sagged against Dib, who stood ramrod straight. "I'm going to right this mistake and strap you both to vivisection tables where you belong!"

The near end of the oblong object glowed bright blue for a moment before discharging an electric blast at them. Dib was knocked away by the impact. He could feel an electric shock reaching through his PAK, shutting down its functions. Gaz lay on the floor, crying. Membrane loomed over her and snatched her up by the hair. She shrieked, clawing at his thick gloves.

Anger surged through Dib. He hurled GIR at his father's head. The Professor dropped to the ground, clutching his head as GIR clanked off his skull to the ground. Scooping up the robot, Dib pulled Gaz up by the arm and dragged her away.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Panting, Dib stopped at the end of an alley, ducking behind a trash receptacle. Gaz, still in shock, just sat next to him, staring at nothing. Dib closed his eyes and tried to contact Zim through the PAK link, but he got no response. He cursed. _What now? I have a creepy old teacher and my Dad chasing me, I have to keep an insane robot and a catatonic sister safe, and I barely know how to fight! This stinks._ He switched on GIR, hoping for some answers.

"I LIKE DOOKY!"

He switched GIR off again. He couldn't help.

The light dimmed, and a chill breeze crawled over his skin. He pulled Gaz into the shadows and glanced at the alley's opening. Ms. Bitters slithered past on the street, a sick, satisfied grin on her face. Zim was nowhere to be seen.

Dib shook Gaz. "Gaz, we have to follow her, hurry!"

She shoved him away. "Leave me alone."

Dib felt his anger rising again. He grabbed her arm. "This isn't a game, Gaz! We have to follow Ms. Bitters wherever she's going and find out what she's done with Zim!"

"I. Don't. Care." She turned away. "You do whatever you want, Dib. I'm staying here."

Dib's fists clenched, and he stepped forward, but hesitated under GIR's dead-eyed accusing stare. Frustrated, he switched the SIR on, barking out the duty-mode lockdown code before he could get a word out. GIR snapped to attention.

"Yes Master!"

"Stay here and keep Gaz safe." He snapped.

"I obey!"

Dib glared at Gaz. "And you though _I_ was a coward." He turned and crept out of the alley, following Ms. Bitters.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Red shifted, unusually nervous. Purple was nowhere to be seen.

_Probably hiding under his bed_. Red thought bitterly. He cleared his throat. "So. You have Zim, you say, and the hybrids aren't far away?"

A tall, flickering shadow towered over Red. _Yes._

Red swallowed. He despised telepathic communication, and this creature knew it. "Can you offer proof of his capture?"

The Morflar's eyes shone with amusement. _You want me to regurgitate him?_

Red nodded reluctantly. "We need conclusive proof before bounty can be paid."

The Morflar stared piercingly at him a moment. Red flinched, and it grinned triumphantly. Slowly, a small bulge formed at the base of the creature, growing larger… larger… and it burst open with a chilling scream of terror. Zim lay on the floor, twitching. His eyes took in the room in one frantic sweep, and he threw himself at Red's feet.

"PLEASE! I beg of you! I'll do anything, I'll die any way you want, whatever you ask, just ask and I'll do it, just don't send me back!"

Red averted his eyes. "You had your chance, Zim."

Zim's face twisted in horror as the Morflar wrapped a flare around his leg and slowly, deliberately, dragged him back. "No! Don't get badder Dib what I say Gaz you no gall ship fly Earth do gedder maneem terk kloonik—AAUUGGHH!!" His babble cut off in a wail as he was once again engulfed in darkness."

_Satisfied?_

Squeedly-spooch churning, Red forced down his bile. "Yes. You will be paid for catching Zim. Tallest purple will present you the bounty within the hour."

_I can hardly wait._

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Dib had followed her to _The Massive_, trailing in her wake. It seemed like no Irken wanted to be near her, but this afforded Dib good cover. He'd managed to hide in the shadows under a console, where he could see everything. Now he wished he couldn't.

He pressed his hand over his mouth, forcing himself to keep his meal down. _Zim. Ms. Bitters—that thing—ate Zim? And Tallest RED is afraid? How do I beat this?_

_You don't._

Dib nearly soiled himself at the voice in his head. Ms. Bitters' voice.

_Fool. You think you have yourself hidden? I knew you were following me from the start. My sense of smell is unmatched, and you reek of fear._ Her glowing eyes turned and fixed on Dib with a gleam. _Now it is easy to turn you in. So Dib, are you going to come quietly, or make things difficult?_

Red and all the drones and security had left. They were alone in the room as she drifted toward his hiding place, dark flares forking out toward him.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Red dragged Purple out from under the bed, wailing and pleading.

"No! You can't make me! I refuse!"

"Purple."

"I'll give you all my snacks for a month, but I can't go near that… that… thing!"

"Purple!"

"No matter what you say, nothing could coerce me into paying an Irken-eater!"

"We're not going to pay it, idiot." Red dropped Purple on the floor of the Central Control Brain's room. He lowered his antennae in submission as he approached it. "Control Brain, a situation has come up. Request to activate the sonic defense system."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Dib's feet moved, bringing him toward Ms. Bitters. He was too numb to do otherwise. She smirked.

_Wise choice. I must admit, you all led me on a merry chase, but it's over now. _She grinned. _Don't worry, you won't miss Zim long. In a few days, you'll be focused on your own fate as experiments at the hands of your father._

He gritted his teeth. "That man is not my father."

She chuckled darkly. _Ah yes, the bitterness, the hatred. _She wafted flares of darkness over his head. _The smell is exhilarating. _Dib shied from the flares, wide-eyed. _It's a pity I'm already full, you're part Irken too, so I could have--!_

Suddenly she swelled to an enormous size, and a thin mental shriek was heard.

_The pain!_

Dib backed up, bewildered. She snatched him a dozen feet off the ground. _Can't you hear that sound?!_

He shook his head vigorously. She hissed, _LIAR! You can't possibly be THAT deaf! AUGH!_ She dropped him, screeching, _Treachery! The Tallests are trying to kill me, they will pay!_

Dib ran to a corner of the room and braced himself against the wall. Aside from the screaming Morflar, there wasn't a sound.

With a final, agonized shriekd, Ms. Bitters crumpled into a still, small shadow on the floor. But she moved slightly, breathing in and out. Dib realized that whatever had hurt her would wear off soon. He had to get out… Zim!

He dashed over to the shadow, hardly knowing what he was doing, and plunged his arm in.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

_The dark. No sense. No sound. No direction. No thought. Thought brings pain, and at least there's no pain. Just the slow absorption of the essence._

_I sense something. Take it away, last time it was false hope. Something prodding. Pushing. That's my hand, let go. Wait… I feel my hand… another one is holding it… pulling…pulling… I can feel my arm… my head… chest… torso… legs…_

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Zim howled in pain as Dib wrenched him from the Morflar's guts. His skin had completely dissolved, and the air stung him. Every touch sent him into spasms of agony. Dib yanked off his trench coat and wrapped it around Zim, partly to keep the air off his body, and party to cover his mortifying lack of clothing.

Red's voice rang out. "Greetings, hybrid. Our highest gratitude for delivering yourself to us." Dib slipped his arms under Zim's shivering form and hefted up as the Tallests hovered toward him, lasers charging. His PAK was still not functioning, and he couldn't leave Zim. He glared at them defiantly as the lasers glowed brighter.

Two clangs, followed by a set of thumps. Dib blinked. Red and Purple had collapsed, a glameslave and a manic, cyan-eyed CIR near their heads. He glanced up in surprise to see Gaz standing on the Tallests' podium, her eyes red and swollen, her fists clenched.

"Let's get outta here." She mumbled.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Red clutched his head with one hand and pushed himself up with the other. "Gah… Purple, you didn't let them get away, did you?" No answer. "Purple?" He glanced around. "Pur—"

Blood. Green, and lots of it. An odd, mushy green substance lay scattered around in it. He picked some up, examining it, until he spied Purple. With his body broken and his head cracked wide open, it was obvious where the mushy chunks came from. Red blanched and dropped the bit of brain he'd been holding.

_You dare try to kill me?_

In an instant, he was seized by the ankle and raised to meet the eyes of a starving, enraged Morflar.

_FOOL!__You will pay a terrible price for this._

He opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. All was blackness. There was no up, no down, no right, no left. No touch, no smell, no sound. Nothing but the spongey mass clamping down on his body, sucking away his life.


	12. Goodbyes

**Note:** There will be one more chapter. I will try to get it uploaded tonight or tomorrow. The story is almost done, I promise. But this is not the last chapter.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Dib cleaned his glasses for the umpteenth time since liftoff. He'd quickly found that pacing did not make time go faster, and neither did staring at Zim's medical pod.

It had been an hour since he'd slid the unconscious Irken into the medical pod. The computer had taken over from there, filling the capsule with a soothing, regenerative fluid. It had encouraged him to go sleep or read, but he remained in the room. GIR had tried to get him to play, but he'd snapped at the SIR unit, sending it off crying. Gaz wouldn't be bothered. With her aptitude for video games and the computer's guidance, she'd easily mastered the ship's controls and had guided it out into space as quickly as possible. She hadn't spoken the entire trip, which was fine by Dib.

Dib stared at the pod. "Computer, shouldn't Zim at least have opened his eyes by now? It's been hours!"

**Correction. Only one hour has passed, but yes, he should have regained some level of consciousness.**

The boy bit his lip. "Computer, remove Zim from the pod."

**Are you sure? He could be unstable…**

"Remove Zim now."

The computer made a worried sound, but slowly drained the regenerative fluid surrounding Zim. Dib swung the pod door open, restraining himself from shaking the alien awake. "Zim…"

One eyelid twitched.

A bullet whizzed by his head and buried itself in the opposite wall with a bang. Dib jumped aside, shaken, and whirled around. Professor Membrane stood there, having abandoned his futuristic stunner for a gun, which he pointed at Dib's head. Dib's eyes widened.

"Dad, d-don't.."

"I am NOT your Dad! I'm a scientist, and you're a specimen. And I _am_ taking you back to Earth for testing, dead or alive!" His finger tightened on the trigger.

A muffled _zip-thwip._ Membrane gasped, clutching his stomach, bright red blood staining his pristine labcoat. Dib opened his clenched eyes in astonishment. Zim's shaking spiderleg glowed as it charged again, firing two more laser blasts at the man's chest. Membrane toppled back, limp. Dib stood frozen, his heart hammering in his chest, a dozen different emotions coursing with every _thump-thump._

"Pref-ferably d-dead." Zim growled.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Dib stared wordlessly down at his father's corpse. Gaz had insisted on arranging his body, and he was too stunned by the fact that she could cry over anything to argue. So the Professor lay in the airlock, hands folded neatly over his red-stained chest, his collar turned up, and his eyes hidden by goggles, as always.

The boy's throat was tight, and his through were confused. What was he supposed to feel? Less than an hour ago, this man had leveled a gun at his head. But did that erase eleven years of a father-son relationship, distant though it was?

"C-c-come on D-dib. W-we have to g-g-get going-ing." Zim stood nearby, his eye twitching. Dib's finger hovered over the small blue button that would make his father disappear forever.

"Goodbye… Dad." He murmured, as he pressed down. With a hiss and whir of mechanisms and gears, Membrane's body slid silently into the black abyss of space.

Gaz stood, head lowered, fists clenched at her sides. Her normally squinted, glaring eyes were red and swollen. Dib put an arm around her shoulder, hoping the gesture wouldn't end in his demise. Surprisingly, Gaz turned and buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Zim lingered, awkwardly observing this display of mingled grief and affection. There was a small twinge in his chest that he'd felt before. He still couldn't quite identify it, but he felt as if he were missing something. But how could he miss something he never had? To him, Membrane had always been a threat. Nothing more, nothing less. But to these two smeets, he'd been a father, though in the loosest possible sense of the word. It was as if he was watching the unfolding events through a thick pane of glass. Unbreakable. Impenetrable. Dib and Gaz may well have been his half-siblings, but there were too many differences Maybe he'd been wrong to take them on. After all, what could an Irken know about raising hyumans? All he knew to do was destroy.

He withdrew, quietly, to the control part of the ship, leaving the smeets to their grief.


	13. No Place Like Home

**Note:** This is it! This is officially the end of the story, unless I decide to write a third and make it a trilogy, which is highly unlikely. I like where this story ends, and I've been inspired to write two more fanfics.

Oh, one more thing. Yes, I purposely misspelled the word "human". If you recall, in the first episode of Invader Zim, he emphasizes the "u" vowel, so I just write it as "hyuman".

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"I—I'm getting' nuffin', fer Christmas! Dibby an' Gazzy are mad. I'm getting' nuffin' for Christmas, cause I ain't been nuffin' but BAAAAAAAD!!!"

"GIR, if I have to tell you to get off my head one. More. Time. I'm going to fuse you TO THE WALL!!"

"Awww, somebody needs a HUUUUG!!"

Zim grunted at the bone-crushing embrace he found himself locked in, and gave a weak smile. He never could stay mad at GIR.

"Are we almost there?" Gaz brushed her hair away from her face. "We've been heading for this 'Aeonar' place for two months now."

"Patience! For the love of Irk, hyuman! Asking Zim repeatedly will not make us any closer to being there. Where's the Dib?"

"Practicing with his PAK."

Zim grinned. "He's doing well. Almost beat you in the last match, didn't he?"

"Can it, greenface."

Puzzled, Zim stated, "There aren't any cans around, silly hyuman."

"You live because of your ignorance." She growled.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Dib wiped his forehead, grinning as he retracted his spiderlegs. He'd made it to a level 6 opponent before he was beaten.

**Good job Dib.**

"Thanks computer. Think I can beat 6 next time?"

**Definitely. Hey, Dib, your new planet is coming up. Go look out the window.**

Dib turned his face toward it, eagerly. In the black stretch of space, a large turquoise planet hung before the ship. It was roughly the size of Earth, and was splotched with yellow and pink land masses.

"Pink. Disgusting." Gaz's voice came from behind him.

Dib grinned. "Aw, cheer up Gaz. I'm sure we're going to live on the happy, sunny, yellow parts. OW!" He clutched his side where Gaz had dug her elbow in.

Zim entered, and said quietly, "Merry Jingley, smeets."

Dib started. "Hey, it _is_ Christmas, isn't it? How'd you keep track?"

The alien smirked. "Are you joking? Do you really think GIR would let me forget?"

"We wish you a Merry Jingley!"

"Get off my head, GIR."

"We wish you a Merry Jingley!"

"STOP EATING MY ANTENNAE!!!"

"We wish you—"

**We're here.**

Zim strode over to the door as the ship's engines ground to a halt, and pushed the button that sprung the exit door.

"Welcome home, smeets. Welcome to _our_ new home."

THE END


End file.
